Tide and Time: Korean Fishermen's Traditional Knowledge of Multtae in Gomso Bay
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Tide and Time: Korean Fishermen's Traditional Knowledge of Multtae in Gomso Bay Sook-Jeong Jo Korean Fishermen and Multtae Tide and Time: Korean Fishermen's Traditional Knowledge of Multtae in Gomso Bay1 Sook-Jeong Jo Postdoctoral researcher, Center for Intangible Culture Studies, Chonbuk National University, Korea ABSTRACT The tide influences the concept of time and life style in fishermen’s culture. As the West Sea of Korea has spring tides ranging from 3 to 9 metres high, fishermen in this area are highly attuned to tidal changes. Based on ethnographic research at a fishing village on the West Sea, this paper reviews the traditional knowledge of Korean fishermen about tide and time, categorised by the concept of multtae (tide time). I develop the argument in three parts. First, I describe what multtae is, and by what time units the tidal changes are measured. Second, I explain the principles and the folk classification of the 15-day tidal cycle by analysing the native terminology of multtae. Third, I define the unique life of the fishermen both at sea and on land who rely on the tide as ‘multtae life,’ and describe how the knowledge of multtae is used in their daily life. The fishermen’s cognitive system of multtae focuses on the sari (spring tides) and the jogeum (neap tides), with more emphasis on the sari. The fishermen’s traditional knowledge of multtae provides a good example of intangible cultural heritage by showing how systematically a natural phenomenon can be recognised and become a part of local culture. Keywords marine environment, tide, time, multtae, multtae life, sari, jogeum, ethnoscience, Korean fishermen, Gomso Bay, Wangpo, West Sea, Korea 1. Introduction Tidal changes make a daily difference to the seascape Korean fishermen’s traditional knowledge of the marine and to working conditions at sea. They create the unique environment. rhythm of time in the sea space, controlling fishermen’s access to the sea. Adapting themselves to the marine The three seas that surround the Korean Peninsula environment, fishermen have developed a unique (Figure 1) are called Donghae (East Sea), Namhae (South understanding of time which is quite different from that Sea), and Seohae (West Sea), and have quite different of people on land. Multtae, a folk term conceptualising oceanic conditions. For instance, the spring tidal range of tide and time, is significant to our understanding of the the East Sea is only 30 centimeters, but for the West Sea it 206 Figures 1 and 2 Maps of Korea showing the location of Gomso Bay. Source: Naver, adapted by author. is from 3 to 9 metres (Hong: 1998, p.18; Koh: 2009, pp.69- Second, I analyse the native terminology of tides to reveal 71). For that reason, especially when studying fishing the principles and the folk classification of the 15-day villages located on the West Sea, it is crucial to understand cycle multtae. Third, I define the unique life of fishermen how fishermen in the area perceive tidal changes. who are affected by the tide both at sea and on land as ‘multtae life,’ and present some examples of the practical I have conducted ethnographic studies on the use of multtae in their everyday life. relationship between Korean fishermen’s culture and their marine environment (Jo: 2012, 2014, 2015). This The material for this paper is based on data collected paper explains the Korean fishermen’s cognitive system during my long-term fieldwork in Wangpo, a fishing village of tides. The development of an elaborate vocabulary to on Gomso Bay in Buan County, North Jeolla Province. I describe the tides reflects their cultural emphasis. I apply first visited the village in April 2007, and did fieldwork at theoretical perspectives from ethnoscience or cognitive the village for about 3 years from July 2008 to July 2011. anthropology, based on linguistic analysis, to discover how I continued to do supplementary research until February people conceptualise their empirical world.2 2013. My informants range in age from their 40s to their 80s. Key informants were born in the 1930s and the 1940s, This paper reviews the traditional knowledge of and started to work in the 1950s and the 1960s. At that time, Korean fishermen about tide and time, characterised by tidal forecasts were not distributed to fishermen. As they the concept of multtae, based on ethnographic research became experienced, fishermen therefore relied heavily at a fishing village in Gomso Bay on the West Sea. The on traditional knowledge passed down orally, and learnt system of multtae is quite complex and has various about the local marine environment from experience. aspects. The discussion of multtae in this paper focuses on the categories of tides observed twice a month. 2. Wangpo, a fishing village on the North After briefly introducing the research field, I will Coast of Gomso Bay examine three aspects of multtae. First, I review how Gomso Bay is located between Buan and Gochang Korean fishermen conceptualise multtae, and how Counties (Figures 1 and 2). The bay is 7 to 9 kilometres they categorise tidal changes using different time units. wide from the north to the south and 20 kilometres long Vol.13 2018 International Journal of Intangible Heritage 207 Korean Fishermen and Multtae from the west to the east, opening to the sea in the west. By the mid-1970s Wangpo fishermen were catching The bay is relatively shallow, 20 metres at its deepest. yellow croakers, cutlassfish, and webfoot octopuses using As the spring tidal range in this area is on average 4 1-ton sailing boats and longlines with baited hooks. At metres or more (Plates 1, 2 and 3), the bay has developed present, they are mostly fishing for webfoot octopuses approximately 75 square kilometres of tidal flats (Koh: and swimming crabs (Portunus trituberculatus), using 1 to 2009, pp.68-69; Chang J.H.:2009, pp.367-368). 2-ton outboard motorboats, nylon gill nets, and fish traps made with large conch shells. They are also catching The area of Gomso Bay in Buan County has only a akiami paste shrimps and purple whelks. Winter is the narrow coastal plain as the rugged mountains of Byeonsan off-season, but a few fishermen still catch elvers, mullet, Peninsula stretch down to its southern coastline (Kim: and oysters (Jo: 2017, p.112). 1988, p.33). Small villages have developed along the long coastline, and the residents have made their livelihood Wangpo fishermen usually go out to sea with the ebb mainly by dry-field farming and small-scale fishing. In tide at around 5 o’clock in the morning. Depending on the the past, local fishermen mainly caught yellow croakers, types of fish, each fisherman sets up fish traps or nets in the best known fish of the West Sea. Wido, an island near multiple lines at sea in advance, and then catches fish by Gomso Bay, used to be famous for a seasonal fish market pulling up alternate lines each day. During the flowing tide, for yellow croakers. Yellow croaker fishing has dwindled at around 11am or 1pm at the latest, they come back to since the1960s because of the problems of overfishing port. After they sell the live catch to wholesalers at their and climate change which have exhausted the fishery houses or at the dock, they fix their nets or traps or do resources.3 domestic chores in the afternoon (Jo: 2017, p.112). Wangpo is a small fishing village in the bay area. The The fishermen’s working space has expanded slightly name of this village implies that it has a good fishing from the inner side of Gomso Bay to the open sea. In the ground with abundant fish. It is said that a family of the mid-1970s, the offshore fishery resources of this area Gimhae Kim clan, dating back seven generations in the declined, and mechanical boats were introduced to the village, settled here about 300 years ago (Mr Kim B.M., village. Since then, Wangpo fishermen have moved their born in 1937; Yang 1985, p.291). Gimhae Kim is still a main fishing areas out to the waters between Gomso Bay major family name in the village, and most of the residents and Wido. (See the zone inside the dotted oval in Figure are relatives. As of 2009, Wangpo had 38 households and 2). The fishing zone is the sea near the village where the 91 residents (44 males and 47 females). When cultivating fishermen can work by day in their small fishing boats. purple laver, a kind of edible seaweed, was at its height in the 1980s and the 1990s, there were almost a hundred households. Plate 1 Plate 2 View of Wangpo and Gomso Bay at the ebb tide. Dock at low tide. Photo: Author, November 2008. Photo: Author, April 2007. 208 3. The concept of multtae Tides are natural phenomena caused by the periodic Multtae is a combined word made up from mul (water) rise and fall of sea levels by the combined effects of the and ttae (time). Mul literally means ‘water,’ but connotes gravitational force exerted by the moon and the sun on ‘tide’ in this context. While the folk term multtae (tide the earth. Wangpo fishermen describe these regular time) is a conceptual category including all tides, Korean movements, saying Mul comes in and goes out twice a fishermen also use this term to describe individual tides day. This idiomatic expression implies that the fishermen matched with various time units. perceive tidal changes every 6 hours in a day. The classification of tides comes from their understanding of To grasp the full meaning of multtae, it is necessary tides with a 6-hour cycle.The tidal changes are divided into to observe how the fishermen of Gomso Bay use this three groups by day, month, and year, and each category term in daily conversation.